Vintage Thing No. 170 - Austerity Special

You can tell it's a special Special from a distant glance

Among the invited sports and racing cars at this weekend's meeting at Wiscombe Park was this fascinating device. No one was around to answer my many questions but I was free to snap away at it.

The programme listed it as Austin 7 Shelsley Special, dating from 1928 and driven by Nick Allen.

On what you might call the timing side is the drive to the blower

I could see it sported a complete Austin 7 powertrain turned through 90 degrees and mid-mounted behind the driver. On one side, the gearbox drives a chain back to the solid rear axle, while on the other is a supercharger.

On the drive side are cunningly fashioned chains  and sprockets

There is so much to like about this bolide as our French friends are wont to call fierce voiturettes.

I enthused about it to a mate of mine and he recalled reading about what he called the Austerity Special somewhere. He was adamant about the name and I can't imagine there could be two like this.

The driving position is much further forward than yer usual Austin 7

If his memory is correct, the build project began many years ago just after WW2 but remained uncomplete for something like forty years until the instigator's son took it on and turned it into a running concern. 

I have so many questions about this car such as "How big is the fuel tank?" (seen here in red) and "What'll she do, mister?"

It had originally been conceived as a three wheeler, but still has a very narrow rear axle. I know from driving a car with a welded diff that you need to slide the back end around on narrow corners so the increased track at the front presumably helps stability.

From the front, there's nothing Austin 7 about the Austerity Special. Front track is increased for stability.